Winter jasmine: characteristics, color and care methods

Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) is a deciduous shrub in the olive family (Oleaceae), genus Jasminum, and it is cultivated in many regions of China; it gets its name because it blooms early in spring, as if welcoming the season. It also has other names such as Yingchun, yellow jasmine and golden belt, and it is a very common early-spring ornamental flowering plant.

The most obvious characteristic of winter jasmine is that it flowers before it leafs out. Every year in late winter and early spring, small golden-yellow flowers open first along the slender branches, and only afterward do the leaves gradually emerge. The corolla is slender and shaped like a tall-footed dish, mostly six-lobed, and bright golden yellow in color. The branches are slender, soft and naturally drooping in an arching form, giving the whole plant an open, spreading shape.

It is fairly adaptable, preferring sunlight but tolerating a little shade, and it is cold- and drought-tolerant. It is not demanding about soil, though it grows better in loose, fertile, well-drained soil. It is often seen in courtyards, on slopes and along riverbanks; its trailing branches have a pleasantly wild look, and it is also very suitable for pruning and shaping into potted plants or bonsai. It is usually propagated by cuttings, and also by layering or division, none of which is particularly complicated.

For winter jasmine grown as a potted plant at home, it is best placed in a spot with plenty of light, watered by the rule of letting the soil dry between waterings, and avoiding waterlogging in the pot that can cause root rot. Proper pruning after flowering can maintain the plant's shape and encourage new shoots. Some people confuse winter jasmine with forsythia; the two have similar flower colors, but winter jasmine has slender greenish twigs that often droop and flowers that are mostly six-lobed, while forsythia has hollow branches and flowers that are mostly four-lobed, so they are not hard to tell apart with a careful look.